Trends in shop floor control: modularity, hierarchy, and decentralization

Computational architectures for shop floor control in automated job shops and midvolume manufacturing facilities are evolving into three identifiable forms, which are contrasted here. The first architecture, termed the modular approach, is based on earlier monolithic MRP/order-release systems and is typified by recent CIM (computer-integrated manufacturing) product offerings such as GEs CIMPLICITY. The second architecture is a hierarchical architecture, such as NIST´s AMRF (National Institute of Standards and Technology´s Automated Manufacturing Research Facility) system. The third architecture is a contract net architecture which is fully decentralized and may be a candidate for future CIM systems. These architectural forms may be distinguished on the basis of the partitioning principles which predominate in their design